I hate to say it... but once you get east of Europe and West of the United States, the creativity level and originality drops to about zero.

It's just a mad culture of copycats in that part of the world. It doesn't even seem to be considered dishonorable or immoral to imitate other people's work if you can't come up with your own. It's a cultural difference which I don't really understand, but it's pretty obvious unless you are purposely refusing to see it. American and European companies have lost billions over the years because of direct knockoffs and imitators coming from that part of the world. Patent law and ingenuity is just non-existent there.

I hate to say it... but once you get east of Europe and West of the United States, the creativity level and originality drops to about zero.

It's just a mad culture of copycats in that part of the world. It doesn't even seem to be considered dishonorable or immoral to imitate other people's work if you can't come up with your own. It's a cultural difference which I don't really understand, but it's pretty obvious unless you are purposely refusing to see it. American and European companies have lost billions over the years because of direct knockoffs and imitators coming from that part of the world. Patent law and ingenuity is just non-existent there.

Everyone does it, including American company's. Htc and Samsung and the rest have improved on many things. Just because someone came up with an idea doesn't mean it cant, or shouldn't be improved upon.

It is a fact that live tiles are not widgets...sorry if that contradicts your "opinion"...

You're right insofar as they play a slightly different role in the ecosystem of the phone, but wrong in what they actually do, which is the exact same thing. A live tile dynamically displays information from a program that is not currently active. Which is exactly what a widget does.

On Windows Phone, they basically ARE the Notification System - therefore more app developers make it a point to update them with badge counts or images, which is more than possible (and even technically superior) on Android (due to the lack of some limitations Microsoft places on Live Tiles in WP8).

This! If Microsoft wants this to be the notification system there need to be less restrictions on what can be done with live tiles - how often they can update, content of the tile, layout of content on the tiles - all needs to be more flexible for this system to work. The restrictions were effective when the processing power was limited to single core in wp7, but now with dual core and soon quad core WP8 devices that are more efficient we can afford to have less restrictions on live tiles. I would love widget like ability for my live tiles.

Live Tiles do nothing Widgets haven't been doing on Android for years now. They're functionally widgets. It's part of the reason why a lot of people just aren't buying the hype behind them. They can make their Android phones "theirs" just like any Windows Phone.

I disagree with this statement. While Live Tiles are essentially widgets, they are a VASTLY SUPERIOR implementation to that in Android and it is NOT POSSIBLE to make your Android phone like a Windows Phone. Have you ever tried having a homescreen full of widgets on Android? How many widgets fit on one screen???

Widgets have been around forever... On the PC before even Android and no one ever used them because their implementation is SO HORRIBLE. On Android, widgets will 1) have a serious toll on your cpu, 2) eat through your battery life, 3) take up a huge part of your screen, 4) consume data and 5) mostly look unorganized, sloppy, and aesthetically unattractive. Your Samsung Galaxy S III is not going to support as many widgets as live tiles on an ancient, first gen Samsung Focus.

WIndows Phone has many flaws. I want Swype and multiple browsers and feel that Windows Phone is locked down. But when it comes to live tiles, I will acknowledge this is a unique feature of Windows Phone. As a matter of fact, I find the entire Android homescreen phenomenon to be a mess. Do you ever wonder why iPhone owners don't envy over Android homescreens? Or why Android modders are boasting about the battery life after killing/disabling background tasks? Its better to just not have a homescreen on Android at all.

I really think that phones looks hot. The iPhone is cool looking, but I hate touching it compared to the nice poly carbonate phones that Nokia and HTC have pulled off. So a Polycarb iPhone running Super Sense or whatever they call it might be compelling.

I would love to see HTC actually sell the phones they deserve to, why the GS3 is so popular and the One X has had so little traction by comparison bothers me. But I know why, Samsung advertises like crazy.

You're right insofar as they play a slightly different role in the ecosystem of the phone, but wrong in what they actually do, which is the exact same thing. A live tile dynamically displays information from a program that is not currently active. Which is exactly what a widget does.

Their core functionality is different, in the way that they poll for information. There are blogs from several WP team members detailing the differences between the two. (like how a single widget causes more battery discharge than an entire start screen full of live tiles) Look them up yourself and get educated.

I really think that phones looks hot. The iPhone is cool looking, but I hate touching it compared to the nice poly carbonate phones that Nokia and HTC have pulled off. So a Polycarb iPhone running Super Sense or whatever they call it might be compelling.

I would love to see HTC actually sell the phones they deserve to, why the GS3 is so popular and the One X has had so little traction by comparison bothers me. But I know why, Samsung advertises like crazy.

I don't get it either. If I was gonna get an Android device, I would go with the One X over the GS3 in a heartbeat. With the exception of a few of the cool "S" features of the galaxy phone, the One X is the superior device in pretty much every regard.

For the record..
before Android OS came out (2008), there was something called Yahoo Widgets (2005)! look it up.
There was also the Windows Gadgets in Vista (2007).
So don't make it sound like Google invented widgets...

IMO Google did nothing new with their OS.
They basically took a Jailbroken iPhone and skinned it.
The OS has no consistency whatsoever in terms of menus, icons and operation in general.
And to top it off it's laggy even on the latest and greatest multi-core phones.

This is where the WP UI shines.
It's simple, clean and efficient.
That's how Live Tiles are different.
(whereas Widgest come in all sizes, shapes and colors. 2D / 3D. Transparent / opaque... = MESSY!!)